The story of Christ in 'AD33' (video)

By
Jessica Priest
March 22, 2013 at 10:02 p.m.Updated March 21, 2013 at 10:22 p.m.

TOP: As torch demons, McKaylah Lopez, 14, left, and Nyla Simmons, 16, carry torches through the audience to the stage during Faith Family Church's production of "AD33" on Friday night. The play featured several scenes with pyrotechnics.BOTTOM: Marcus "Marquee" Perez holds onto his horns as he attaches them to his head while others do his full-body makeup to play the part of Satan in Faith Family Church's production of "AD33."
Angeli Wright
for The Victoria Advocate

Glen Davis aged 41 years in three hours.

He wore the prosthetic, glued-on wrinkles lining his face humbly.

Friday night marked the third time he took on the iconic role of John the Beloved in Faith Family Church's production of "AD33," the story of Jesus Christ, which took months to coordinate.

Slipping into a character that has most - if not all - of the lines in the 80-minute play requires just as much faith as it does practice, he said.

"I never recite lines, I feel them," Davis said. "A lot of people ask me, 'Are you really crying up there on stage?' and I say, 'I can't help but cry.'"

Originally from northeast Ohio, Stanford took a job in oil field services five years ago never imagining she'd put her makeup artist skills back to use.

"This is really such a blessing," she said.

Stanford and a handful of the nearly 235-person cast and crew joked with Davis in the moments leading up to show time. Davis vowed to play the part as long as he's able.

"They'll no longer have to do the makeup and hair," he said, chuckling.

And, for him, the church could strip back all its high tech special effects and the story would be just as powerful. Last year, a man turned his life over to the Lord and didn't see a single scene.

"He was blind, but he said, 'It was that man. It was the story he told. He made me believe,'" Davis said.

In another area backstage, little ones scurried down the halls.

Madison Knight, a fourth-grader at Faith Academy, twirled in her ethereal dress. Playing the part of a cherub, she hoped the role would give her the acting chops she needed to pursue an acting career in the future.

"I think this is a good story to tell how it all happened," she said, smiling.

Jesus, played by James Hough, 51, who has worn the crown of thorns for the past three years, shook hands with friends before making his first appearance.

"I'm portraying the only perfect man who walked this earth, and I, of course, can't be perfect," Hough said. "He was always the answer. ... Whoever was standing in front of Jesus at any moment was always the most important."